News sites reported yesterday that the Health Ministry would consider a full-scale movement control order in the state if the number of new Covid-19 infections continued to rise there.
At 12.30pm, the key index was down 1.34 points to 1,582.12 after earlier rising to a high of 1,588.17.
Top decliners on the blue-chip index were Public Bank dropping seven sen to RM4.19, Hartalega
sliding 16 sen to RM9.55, Sime Darby Plantation falling seven sen to RM4.43 and Petronas Gas slipping 16 sen to RM15.82.Some semiconductor plays were back in the spotlight after the recent retreat in tandem with the US tech sector.
MPI rose 58 sen to RM36.38 while D&O Green Technologies climbed 36 sen to RM4.23.
Meanwhile, property developer Y&G hit limit up after it surged 30 sen to RM1.16.
Among actives, Focus was up one sne to six sen, KTG
fell one sen to 19.5 sen and DNex rose 5.5 sen to 71.5 sen.Asian markets were on the rise as equities rebounded from the disappointment of weak Chinese economic data earlier this week.
Japan's Nikkei jumped 2.2% while South Korea's Kospi climbed 1.3%.
China's main index was up 0.1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 1.25%.
In Australia, the ASX200 was up 0.7%.